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Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#31

Post by pjc50 »

atmosx wrote: post #27
sambeau wrote: post #2

I can highly recommend this. For us Brits this is a national institution and appearing on it is considered a badge of honour similar to a minor peerage. We listen to it live on a Sunday morning. If you enjoy the format there is a large archive of these with many of the most influential people of the 20th century. However the modern (Kirsty Young) ones are by far the most insightful due to her masterful, understated i…

Thanks for this! This is an amazing series!!! I'll probably listen everything in time! Another amazing podcast series from BBC is "a brief history of mathematics": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srz5b/episodes/downloads

The programme has been running since 1942, so "everything" is rather a lot :)

There are a few more programmes of similar longevity, one that people may like is Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f6hbp from 24 March 1946 to 20 February 2004

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#32

Post by coldtea »

atmosx wrote: post #29
MrQuincle wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not that brilliant, but I gave up on chess myself at around 18 when I crossed the threshold of playing blind and not being able to fall asleep at night because I was replaying games in my head. I think there are plenty of indicators that a more brilliant mind would take as clues of navigating to some local intellectual optimum. :-) Only now I'm twice that age I follow a bit of the tournaments again. Watching a ba…

So, all of you AI guys, started from chess? I see a pattern emerging...

You got that ("all of you guys", "pattern emerging") from just reading about 2 guys?

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#33

Post by taneq »

Radim wrote: post #22
taneq wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is or isn't trivial vs important is only obvious in hindsight, unfortunately. Amongst things of similar nature, sure, but surely you're not arguing that being very good at chess is just as likely advance humanity in some important way as directly tackling current existential dangers?

Actually, you're not far off! Where else would the next major advance come from, if not from raising our collective consciousness through games (cheap focused simulations) and articulate story-telling (social alignment and morality correction)? We're not robots, to somehow perceive objective reality independently and logically. I certainly believe story-tellers and players are absolutely critical if humanity is to pu…

> Where else would the next major advance come from?

Probably from sustained and detailed study of the universe around us and the way it works. That's how we figure out most things. Not that (board) games can't be useful as training but IMO they're a form of navel-gazing. (Games based on high fidelity simulations are definitely useful - look at the AI research using GTA5 as a simulator for self-driving cars, for instance.)

> I certainly believe story-tellers and players are absolutely critical if humanity is to pull through.

In the sense of us dealing with our own demons and learning how to handle the general awfulness of reality (ie. psychology / philosophy), I completely agree. In the sense of us dealing with outside challenges, though, not so much.

> Just curious -- what do you see as the "current existential dangers"?

Right now? Our current economic system is close to its limits, with a growing percentage of humans permanently unemployed and that percentage is growing rapidly with new tech. Various ecological systems are collapsing. (eg. pollinators like bees being wiped out by insecticides - have you ever read John Christopher's "Death of Grass"?) Runaway climate change is a real possibility (ocean warming causing methane clathrates to release large amounts of methane into the atmosphere). Higher human populations and population densities increasing the evolution rate of diseases beyond what our immune systems can handle. And all that on a backdrop of a looming AI singularity which even in the best case will make the world weird and confusing beyond the comprehension of baseline humans. There's a lot going on.

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#34

Post by 1024core »

coldtea wrote: post #32
atmosx wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, all of you AI guys, started from chess? I see a pattern emerging...

You got that ("all of you guys", "pattern emerging") from just reading about 2 guys?

You just need 2 points to draw a line... ;-)

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#35

Post by atmosx »

pjc50 wrote: post #31
atmosx wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this! This is an amazing series!!! I'll probably listen everything in time! Another amazing podcast series from BBC is "a brief history of mathematics": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srz5b/episodes/downloads

The programme has been running since 1942, so "everything" is rather a lot :) There are a few more programmes of similar longevity, one that people may like is Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f6hbp from 24 March 1946 to 20 February 2004

Indeed! Ok, maybe not all of them but definitely some of them! :-)

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#36

Post by guest234 »

coldtea wrote: post #30
atmosx wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes me wonder how many other brilliant minds are wasted on trivial pursuits and how we can better engage them on major problems of our increasingly complex world. We humans, have this amazing ability to give or take away meaning and essence to whatever we do. So for another brilliant or less brilliant mind, becoming a doctor, veterinarian, molecular biologists, etc. Means so much more than reaching the limits…

> So for another brilliant or less brilliant mind, becoming a doctor, veterinarian, molecular biologists, etc. Means so much more than reaching the limits of AI. And yet, all of those fields will benefit from advancements in AI -- whereas someone being great in chess wont have any impact at all for anything else. What you said is kinda of true, but in a trivial way. Sure, for the guy who's just fallen in love other t…

However ability in chess might not predict ability in those other endeavours

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#37

Post by psyc »

imranq wrote: post #5
nopinsight wrote: post #3

I enjoyed listening to the short segment on how and why he gave up chess at 11 despite being ranked 2nd in the world for that age group. Remarkable reflectiveness for an 11-year-old. Check out this down the page: "Demis Hassabis: ‘I thought we were wasting our minds’ AI expert Demis Hassabis on giving up chess tournaments aged 11." It makes me wonder how many other brilliant minds are wasted on trivial pursuits and h…

I mean you can argue that as nice as AlphaGo is, it has not accomplished any thing real outside of being better at some games.

I encounter comments every day on HN and Reddit, from people with no vision who seem to believe the status quo defines the limit of technology.

Re: Desert Island Discs – Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind [audio]

#39

Post by oretoz »

atmosx wrote: post #27
sambeau wrote: post #2

I can highly recommend this. For us Brits this is a national institution and appearing on it is considered a badge of honour similar to a minor peerage. We listen to it live on a Sunday morning. If you enjoy the format there is a large archive of these with many of the most influential people of the 20th century. However the modern (Kirsty Young) ones are by far the most insightful due to her masterful, understated i…

Thanks for this! This is an amazing series!!! I'll probably listen everything in time! Another amazing podcast series from BBC is "a brief history of mathematics": http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00srz5b/episodes/downloads

"In our times" is great too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/37pR8YxRMhVwwZvX93r...
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